People v. Thousand
Supreme Court of Michigan
631 N.W.2d 694 (2001)
Deputy William Liczbinski posed online as a fourteen-year-old girl named Bekka to investigate Thousand (defendant), a twenty-three-year-old man; their conversations turned sexually explicit, Thousand sent an explicit photo and proposed meeting for sex, and he was arrested when he arrived at the arranged meeting spot. He was charged with attempted distribution of obscene material to a minor, and moved to quash the charge because there was no actual minor and thus no way he could have completed the underlying offense; the circuit court granted the motion and the Court of Appeals affirmed.
Whether a defendant can be convicted of criminal attempt even where completing the underlying offense was factually impossible.